BNP Paribas Banker Wins £2m For Sex Discrimination Claims

Stacey Macken v BNP Paribas London Branch 

A finance specialist (Macken), 50, sued French bank BNP Parabis after being belittled by her boss who kept saying “not now, Stacey” – a phrase he used so often that colleagues took it upon themselves to copy it. Along with this poor behaviour, her colleagues on one drunken occasion also left a witch’s hat left on her desk. She also brought equal pay claims against the bank given that she was shockingly underpaid when compared to her male counterparts.

Ultimately, she was awarded more than £2m in compensation by the Employment Tribunal for sex discrimination, victimisation and unequal pay. To be exact, she was awarded £2,081,449 after suing the international bank, reportedly one of the largest awards ever made by a British tribunal.

The £120k-a-year city banker claimed that over a four-year period she received hundreds of thousands of pounds less than her male peers in salary and bonuses and that after she raised grievances about this, managers targeted her with unfair treatment.

The employment judge was critical of Macken’s bosses for acting “spitefully and vindictively” and increased her compensation (i.e. aggravated damages) because the bank failed to apologise to her on their own volition. She was not minded to order the bank to apologise as, to her, an ordered apology is not a sincere apology. 

The London Central Employment Tribunal heard that Macken, previously a vice-president at Deutsche Bank, was hired by BNP Paribas in 2013. But beknown to her, a man was also hired with the same job title and same responsibilities yet was being paid £160,000.

Macken claimed she was exposed to sexist behaviour involving one of her bosses in the prime brokerage team, Matt Pinnock within a few months of joining the bank.

Another manager, was accused of routinely demeaning her by replying “not now, Stacey” when she tried to talk to him.

Employment Judge Burns unsurprisingly ruled the leaving of a witch’s hat on her desk was an “inherently sexist act” and the regular use of “not now, Stacey” was branded a “demeaning comment”. She said, “We consider the tribunal panel found that Mr Pinnock and anothe manager behaved spitefully and vindictively towards Miss Macken because she had raised concerns about her pay and that they did have a discriminatory motive."

The bank claimed it has now adopted a “detailed gender strategy and gender action plan” in response to its poor gender pay gap and is “trying to increase the number of women at senior management level”.

Opinion

I am not quite sure what a "detailed gender strategy and gender action plan" is supposed to entail. Given the facts of this case, I am equally not convinced that simply hiring more women at senior management level is the answer. There is quite clearly a sinister issue and mindset that has infected workplaces far too long. 

There are so many comments on a number of tabloid websites that show that the issue of women being paid less than men purely because they are women is not going to be solved simply by hiring more women at senior management level.

Let's get back to basics. Treat people with respect. Pay every individual what they are due. Do not treat women as second-class citizens, and equally do not go down the other end of the spectrum and assume every male is discriminatory. Understand the difference between when one can negotiate a salary within a given band and when it is evident that it is a gender pay gap issue.

Of importance, if you find yourself in a position like Macken's, do not tolerate the discrimination and/or unequal pay. Do not let your mental health suffer any longer. Get in touch and let's make this right.

Call a specialist employment lawyer  

Magara law is an employment law firm in Bicester, Banbury, Reading and Paddington, London, and services clients nationwide. For more information or to our employment law team at Magara Law, call 01869 325 883 or email roy@magaralaw.co.uk.